Seamless and Secure Connectivity Program develops an end-to-end seamless and secure connectivity and communication of the future jointly with the surrounding ecosystem.
By ; Mohamed Elkholy
Bittium launches Seamless and Secure Connectivity Program, targeting to enable trustworthy, secure, and resilient end-to-end connectivity architectures and products including life-cycle services in various domains.
Business Finland has granted the Program EUR 10 million development funding and, in addition, EUR 20 million funding for the ecosystem companies and research partners in the “Challenger” competition (“haastajakilpailu”) of leading companies (Veturi-yritykset) for the Program. The four-year Program led by Bittium will last until 2026. The funding is tied to the Program’s goals and is a maximum of EUR 10 million for Bittium and a maximum of EUR 20 million for the ecosystem companies, allocated over a period of four years. The Program will not change Bittium’s financial guidance for the year 2023, published in the Financial Statement Bulletin 2022.
For Bittium, the Program enables comprehensive development of the company's strategically significant themes. These themes are e.g. encryption and information security technologies and remote medical diagnostics (ECG, EEG and sleep apnea), including measuring of biosignals, digitalization of services, increase of wireless and information secure connections.
Seamless and Secure Connectivity Program will focus in six themes, of which objectives are as follows:
Secure encryption technologies: The objective is to define and create roadmap to develop and apply future encryption technologies.
Seamless and secure connectivity for highly secure communications in the future networks: The objective is to define ad solve special questions related to highly secure applications as well as application of related technologies and solutions.
Secure end-to-end verticals: The objective is to develop end-to-end information security, including the development of information security in different verticals.
Scaled sensor fusion development: As objective to define and create roadmap for the utilization of information from several sensors and thus sensor fusion based on, for example, medical measurement data.
Significant development of operating models (e.g. RegOps, a method of agile development of medical software): The objective is to develop different operating models in such a way that they take into account the extensive requirements of regulations and directives, and the rapid adaptation or application of regulations and directives to software supporting devices or services.
Shifts from devices into end-to-end solutions and services. As objective to develop technologies and solutions that enable the transfer of information from devices to solutions and services (end-to-end connections), for example in medical remote diagnostics.
"Seamless and secure communication will require the cooperation of various networks in the future in the field of public, private and related applications. The number of different terminal devices in the network, such as sensors, mobile devices and IoT devices, is growing very quickly, and the importance of their end-to-end information security is growing substantially.
Seamlessness is enabled, for example, by utilizing alternative connectivity technologies and mobility solutions at the same time, so that the data-secure connection remains uninterrupted during the entire communication.
On the other hand, the development of medical remote diagnostics, from devices to services, promotes cost-efficiency in the healthcare industry, faster diagnosis of people’s health or related problems, and significantly improves the eco-efficiency of the environment as it becomes more common," says Jari Partanen, Director of Quality, Environment and Technology Management at Bittium.
The ecosystem of the Seamless and Secure Connectivity Program will develop seamless digital structures, infrastructure, systems, and processes as well as cyber resilience suitable for the current, advanced 5th generation (5G advanced) and future 6G environments. In order to reach this goal, the perspective of overall development, from devices to services in the entire chain, must be taken into account.
Technologies and applications that are the development targets of the ecosystem, e.g. the overall wireless connectivity market, which is estimated to grow at an average annual growth rate of almost 13 percent until 2027 (Markets and Markets, Wireless Connectivity Market, 08/2022), on the other hand, the mobile communication security market is predicted to grow at a growth rate of more than 20 percent until 2030 ( Allied Market Research, Mobile Security market 04/2022). Medical device software is estimated to grow at an average of 22 percent, with the market growing up to USD 22 billion by 2027 (Deloitte, Future of Diagnostics 10/2022).
"Thanks to the funding granted by Business Finland, we are now able, in cooperation with the Finnish industry and research community, to launch the Seamless and Secure Connectivity Program that creates excellent conditions for the entire surrounding ecosystem to develop information-secure end-to-end connections enabling technologies and solutions.
Through the eco-efficiency made possible by the development of remote diagnostics, the Program also supports sustainable development and strengthens the competitiveness of Finnish industry in the coming years," says Bittium Corporation’s CEO, Hannu Huttunen.
